White House delays release of new travel order

Washington: The White House announced that it was is delaying the release of a revised executive order on travel and refugees until next week, an official said.

File image of US President Donald Trump. AP

The official did not provide any explanation for the delay, The Hill magazine reported.

On Tuesday, White House policy adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News that the new order will largely resemble the old one, but that the changes will be "mostly minor technical differences".

On Wednesday, Miller stressed that the revisions, though minor, will help the policy pass legal muster.

He did not provide further details about what the changes will entail, but said they would result in "a new and different executive order".

"The executive order will be fully responsive to the courts - though any changes are of course very technical and legal in nature, the significance of the changes will be quite substantial," he said in an email to The Hill.

"Again: any judges reviewing the order will find it wholly and completely responsive."

The original order issued on 27 January banned refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.

It also halted refugee resettlement for 120 days and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely.

The order sparked mass protests and confusion at airports, and US courts have temporarily blocked the ban.